Under his umbrella, ella, ella. Kingsman: The Secret Service shows off cool gadgets in James Bond homage. >> Pg. 4
thegazette Naming our daughters after prize winning cows since 1906
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2015
WESTERN UNIVERSITY • CANADA’S ONLY DAILY STUDENT NEWSPAPER • FOUNDED 1906
TODAY high -13 low -18
TOMORROW high -12 low -19 VOLUME 108, ISSUE 76
Poloz calls for change to banking Amy O’Kruk NEWS EDITOR @AmyAtGazette
Stephen Poloz, the governor of the Bank of Canada, visited Western yesterday as part of a lecture series hosted by Western Alumni. Poloz, who holds a doctoral degree in economics from Western, gave the first ever address for the President’s Lecture series where he talked about the future of the Canadian economy, in particular the future course of monetary policy that will build on lessons learned from the recent global recession. “At the regulatory level, the G20 countries recognize the need to make the countries and the world financial systems much safer,” Poloz said. Poloz elaborated that the Bank of Canada’s cut of interest rates last month was part of a preventative measure against the risks the drop in the price of oil has exposed to Canada’s economy. “The oil price shock is … a net negative for Canada’s economic growth,” Poloz said. “Lower oil prices mean lower mean Canadian incomes across the board. The shock will worsen the debt to income ratio for Canadian households thereby increasing financial stability risks.” Poloz’s image is currently featured on the Social Science Centre as part of Western’s Be Extraordinary campaign. The campaign celebrates the achievements of notable alumni as part of an effort to generate $750 million in donations for the university to invest in its future enhancement. While Poloz’s visit was celebrated by many, some students have raised questions about the university’s glorification of Poloz
Amy O’Kruk • GAZETTE
and the Be Extraordinary campaign itself. The Society of Graduate Students sent out an email to their member base yesterday morning that questioned the Poloz’s statements made last fall regarding unemployed youth working for free and using the funding campaign’s reliance on alumni giving to “offset stagnant provincial funding for post-secondary education.” Kevin Godbout, SOGS President,
said the email’s message is about holding Poloz accountable for comments he made in the public but moreover it questions Western’s funding model and campaign. “He’s one of the very prominent figures of the Be Extraordinary campaign …we want to shift the narrative away from narratives of exceptionalism … and bring it back to towards actually no, what’s extraordinary is that so
Western email system converges to Office 365 Mohammad Abrar Abdul Hanan GAZETTE STAFF @uwogazette
This Saturday, Information Technology Services will move email service from Convergence to Microsoft Office 365 for all undergraduate students at Western. The switch to the new email service is expected to bring a plethora of
benefits to students. “We found that the existing platform is getting near end of life and the capacity limitations of Convergence limited students significantly in terms of the amount of emails that they could store in the system,” said Dave Ghantous, associate director of Technical Services at Western. “All in all, we thought that the number of features and the capacity that Office 365 gives
will add significant benefit to the students.” Emily Addison, vice-president internal for the University Students’ Council, said developing a new email service has been major priority of the USC for the past few years. “For years the USC has heard complaints about the storage capacity along with other features of Western’s email service. As a result of this, it became an advocacy priority
many students are struggling and Western isn’t willing to acknowledge it and take steps to make these things better.” During the Q and A session following Poloz’s lecture, he responded to a question that brought up his past comments about unemployed youth and was also asked about the future outlook for young, unemployed job seekers.
“Our modeling suggests that in another two years we’ll be home, or back to full capacity,” Poloz said. “Those who are seeking full-time employment and are having to settle for part-time employment will be able to make that transition, and those who are entering the labour market for the first time have a much better chance to engage.”
for the previous executive and we have been lucky enough to see this change come to fruition this year,” she said. ITS started the initiative to migrate the email service in mid2014 with an evaluation of the alternate email platforms. According to Ghantous, Office 365 and Google were the top choices since a majority of higher education institutions in Canada use or in the process of moving their email service to either of the two platforms. “We evaluated both Google and Office 365 as potential target platforms and felt that the features and functionality of Office 365 fit better at Western than Google,” he said.
During the development stage, key problems experienced by ITS were determining a system to transfer students emails over to the new platform and adequately communicating with the students to ensure that they understand and prepare for the process. To deal with these issues, ITS conducted a pilot program from January 8 to 31 with 1,800 undergraduate students. The feedback from the participants gave ITS an opportunity recognize potential problems with the new email service and develop plans for the mass rollout in February. >> see EMAIL pg.3
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thegazette • Wednesday, February 25, 2015
Taylor Lasota • GAZETTE
USC holds penultimate meeting Hamza Tariq NEWS EDITOR @HamzaAtGazette
Tonight, the USC will be presented with the 2015–16 budget, a presentation by the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations and a vote on changed executive positions. All three items are significant changes for the University Students’ Council. According to USC president Matt Helfand, the new budget is a four-year plan that
Solution to puzzle on page 7
is integrated with the council’s strategic planning report. “Passing the budget is one of the most important roles of council and this year we are presenting a four-year budget — which is something totally new for the USC,” Helfand said. The USC’s long-term plan and budget committee and the board of directors have approved the budget and the next step is consideration and approval from council. According to Helfand, discussions have been underway since last year whether the USC should continue its membership of CASA. In a last ditch effort to convince the USC otherwise and so that council is able to make an informed decision, CASA’s home office members will be attending Wednesday’s meeting to do a presentation. The council will make a decision on the membership in their annual general meeting in March. Last month, council was
CROSSWORD By Eugene Sheffer
presented with proposals that vice-president communications and finance portfolios should be moved into hired positions. According to Jacob Krizenfeld, USC governance officer, a twothird majority vote is needed for this proposal to pass through council. Other council business includes a motion to define council attendance policy. “Technically under current policy you can show up with 15 minutes left in the meeting and still be considered late, even though that’s not fair to other councillors,” Krizenfeld said. There was disagreement and debate among council about what constituted late and absent, and the purpose of the motion would be to add the definition of absent under the attendance policy. “Between the budget, the CASA presentation and the executive composition, it’s going to be a big council meeting,” Helfand said.
News Briefs
Undergrads get research opportunity
A new undergraduate research training program, the Dean’s Un d e rg ra d u a t e Re s e a rc h Opportunities Program, has recently been introduced by the Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry’s Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs. “We will be providing opportunity for 20 undergraduate students to have state of the art experience in 20 of our Schulich labs,” said Andrew Watson, associate dean of research at Schulich. The projects cover a wide range of research including cell biology, heart function, cancer, DNA sequencing, probiotics and more. “Students will be expected to spend most of their time during the week in the lab. Students will be directly involved in moving forward all the projects on the website. They will be working on research teams with a supervisor, along with other graduate students, post docs and other research technicians,” Watson said. According to Watson, the students will gain first-hand experience with the expectation that they will be producing novel data by the end of the summer. The program will extend from May to August, with a stipend provided. Students can apply online, where descriptions of the research projects can also be found. • Kristen Reilly
The Cryptoquip is a substitution cipher in which one letter stands for another. If you think that X equals O, it will equal O throughout the puzzle. Single letters, short words and words using an apostrophe give you clues to locating vowels. Solution is by trial and error. © 2002 by Kings Features Syndicate, Inc.
•3
thegazette • Wednesday, February 25, 2015
Western unveils new campus plan Julie Hambleton CONTRIBUTOR @uwogazette
The Campus Master Planning Committee released the draft for the Western University Master Plan 2015 last week. This new plan highlights the infrastructure needs of the campus after the unpredicted growth Western experienced since the last master plan from 2007. “The purpose of a campus master plan is to guide future development, not to try to prescribe it precisely,” said Gitta Kulczycki, vice-president resources and operations and member of the 13-person master plan committee. She continued to say that the previous plan laid out some important master planning principles which continue to guide further developments for items such as proximity of core academic programs to each other, transportation, energy conservation and renovations. One area that is different from the 2007 plan is undergraduate growth. “Because of the subsequent decision to expand undergraduate
student enrolment and recognizing the importance Western places on the student experience and the residential campus, we did construct another 1,000 bed undergraduate residence, Ontario Hall,” Kulczycki said. “That had not been contemplated in the 2007 campus master plan.” This new plan will lay out where potential development can occur and what it may look like in terms of height, mass, and how new buildings will fit into the CollegiateGothic style of architecture on campus. Kulczycki and the committee has determined that Western has enough land on main campus to accommodate approximately 25–30 years of growth. Another major area of interest for the plan is campus transportation. “Our plan continues to give priority to walking, cycling and busing within the core of our campus,” Kulczycki said. “It continues to recognize the critical importance of transit on our campus and the need to work closely with the City of London on their plan for the introduction of a rapid transit system.”
Courtesy of Western University
BUT WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE IN WINTER? An artist’s rendition of what the future Oxford Drive might look like. The University announced their new campus master plan last week and are seeking feedback from students this week.
The plan is looking at expanding parking opportunities on campus with the potential for a multi-level parking facility. Western Road, Alumni Circle, Oxford Drive, the Social Science Plaza, Kent Drive and University Hill are all significant areas on campus that the plan is looking to enhance. “As beautiful as our campus is, we have opportunities to transform these areas into attractive places that give a sense of arrival to and on our campus.” According to University Students’ Council president Matt
Helfand, the USC will be involved with the new campus master plan. “The USC, as representatives of the undergraduate student body is undeniably an important stakeholder in this master planning process,” Helfand said. The USC has submitted two written letters to the committee for consideration, and the first of these has been co-signed with Purple Bikes, a USC operation, to make the Western campus more cycle-friendly. The second letter suggests that the university focus on campus transportation,
maintenance of current buildings and the creation of new student spaces throughout campus. In regards to who can contribute to the plan, Kulczycki and the committee encourages everyone in the community to offer their suggestions. “We welcome input from everyone – particularly we hope from our students, staff, faculty, near campus neighbourhoods and our broader stakeholders.” There is a community consultation meeting in McKellar Room in the UCC today from 12–1:30p.m.
MARCH BREAK OPEN HOUSE
Saturday, March 14, 2015 VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES ARE YOU: • Available to contribute your time for the day on March 14 • Interested in meeting prospective students and their families • Involved in campus activities • Enthusiastic and positive about your Western experience • Articulate, pleasant and responsible
TO APPLY: • Review the volunteer posting details on the Career Central website https://www.westerncareercentral.ca/home.htm • Email your completed application information to liaison@uwo.ca
DEADLINE: THURSDAY, MARCH 5, 2015
141104
Please note that you must attend one of the following MANDATORY orientation sessions: March 9th at 4:30pm OR March 10th at 11:30am OR 4:30pm. If selected as a volunteer, location of the sessions will be sent to you via email.
Western adopts new email system >> EMAIL continued from pg.1
“The new services were presented to Matt Helfand and I during the summer after extensive consultation had taken place prior to our terms in office. Western ITS really worked collaboratively with us and students across campus to ensure that they were getting the best deal for students,” Addison said. Ghantous added that the new email service provides a number of benefits for the students. “Capacity is big benefit; our existing platform limited students to 50 MB mailbox and the limit in the new platform is 50 GB. The ability to receive email on a wider variety of devices and platforms is another benefit for students,” he said. Furthermore, Ghantous said that the biggest benefit he sees with the new email service is the ability to use “Office Download” which gives students the ability to download Microsoft Office on five different devices of their choice, free of charge.
After the launch, USC and ITS will work together to conduct mass surveys to determine the success of the program. “We will be working with Western’s ITS moving forward to liaise between the student body and this unit of the administration. Since we do not have the direct authority to alter the system we will work with students and ITS to address concerns and recommendations. If students have any questions, comments or concerns about the current move, feel free to contact us,” Addison said.
T
HE ABILITY TO RECEIVE EMAIL ON A WIDER VARIETY OF DEVICES AND PLATFORMS IS ANOTHER BENEFIT FOR STUDENTS. DAVE GHANTOUS
ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR OF TECHNICAL SERVICES AT WESTERN
See where experience takes you.
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Your creative career starts here
4 •
thegazette • Wednesday, February 25, 2015
arts&life HUDS will roll: mocking news with a rocking crew
saywhat? “People say satire is dead. It’s not dead; it’s alive and living in the White House.”
• Robin Williams
>> IN THEATRES > THE KINGSMAN
A clash of King’s men Brent Holmes DEPUTY EDITOR @BrentAtGazette
GGGHF Kingsman: The Secret Service Director: Matthew Vaughan Starring: Colin Firth, Taron Edgerton, Mark Strong, Michael Caine and Samuel L. Jackson
Courtesy of the Huron Underground Dramatic Society
BECOMING THE MOCKINGJAYS. The Huron Underground Dramatic Society recently started a direct-to-Youtube satirical news series entitled Mock News. Pictured above anchors Hannah Burney and Spencer Banfield.
Richard Joseph GAZETTE STAFF @uwogazette
Is Jon Stewart just a charming puppet for talented writers? While The Daily Show host is certainly a nice poster boy, it takes an impressive degree of skill to deliver jokes as effectively and naturally as he does. Pretty faces and rapier-sharp wits alike might enjoy a similar program being produced here at Western called Mock News. Mock News is a satirical news program produced by the Huron Underground Dramatic Society. Inspired by shows like Saturday Night Live and the The Rick Mercer Report, the straight-to-YouTube show deals with a wide range of contemporary events, from celebrity culture to politics to the utterly bizarre. The rapid-fire format consists mainly of quick setups and pithy punchlines, holding even the fleeting attention of the modern mass-media audience. The occasional “guest speaker” will be introduced for their unusual insight, with such illustrious characters as “pageant mom” and “fashion expert.” Spearheading Mock News is Spencer Banfield, fourth-year history student at Huron. Banfield, a member of HUDS for over four years, decided to finally take advantage of Huron’s extensive film resources, including cameras, editing software and greenscreen facilities, to create Mock News. “In addition to the resources, there’s this gigantic talent pool at Huron,” Banfield says. “Now, a lot of them make up the 50 or so people involved in HUDS.” The show draws on a variety of other news sources: CNN, MSNBC, occasionally FOX, and especially the gritty “true-news” documentaries of VICE. For the really outlandish
stories, Banfield browses a Reddit subforum called “not the onion” which specializes in the bizarre and incredible. The goal of Mock News is to view contemporary events through the critical lens of satire — to inform, but also to entertain, Banfield says. “It’s basically our knockoff version of SNL’s Weekend Update,” he comments. “We’re educating the public and, at the same time, having fun with friends and doing something worthwhile.”
F
OR EXAMPLE, WE DID A SKETCH ABOUT SOPA AND NET NEUTRALITY — A LOT OF PEOPLE EITHER DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT THIS OR DIDN’T SEE HOW IT AFFECTED THEM. SPENCER BANFIELD
DIRECTOR OF MOCK NEWS
Hannah Burney, a second-year English student at Huron, plays one of the regular anchors in the show. “I just like to make people laugh,” she says. “It’s why I do comedy, it’s why I act — I love getting a reaction from people.” The show is the first of its kind in Huron’s film scene. “HUDS has always had its own … productions — sketch comedy, musicals, and plays,” she explains. “But Mock News, a Youtube show, is really us adapting to the age of social
media.” Burney is also involved in the scriptwriting process (she is head of the “terrible puns” division), which Banfield describes as a “well-oiled chaos machine.” Writers’ meetings take place three times a week, the dialogue is approved by the producers, and auditions are held. Finally, on Fridays, the team hammers out the final details and does the filming. “It’s pretty hectic,” Banfield admits. “It’s all very week-to-week — but hey, that’s the stuff we live for.” “Mock News is funny, edgy, and it’s different,” says second-year student Saba Panjwani, another anchor for the show. “My experience with it has been really good. It’s a great bunch of people, and we put out some really interesting content.” There are a range of opportunities for different types of contributions and skillsets in HUDS. “I like the way Mock News is laid out,” says Panjwani. “Anyone can contribute to it, it’s very open. Even if you don’t want to be on camera, you can still contribute a lot.” Students can get involved in any level of production, whether it’s acting, camerawork, writing or editing.Although satirical, the show addresses serious political issues. “What I hope, in the long term, is that some people learn a thing or two about contemporary events,” says Banfield. “For example, we did a sketch about SOPA and net neutrality — a lot of people either didn’t know about this or didn’t see how it affected them.” Also notable is the episode paying homage to the journalists who died in the Charlie Hebdo incident, a show of support for fellow satiricists. “Anyone who wants to audition is more than welcome,” Banfield says. “It comes out on Youtube every Friday. Be sure to watch, like or subscribe — we’d love to see Mock News grow.”
Martinis, tuxedoes, fast cars exploding pens they belong to a special kind of spy film — the ones where the sauve, British gentlemen defends the last bastion of civil, well-balanced living against those hellbent on total world domination and power for power’s sake. It is the Bond film — films all about style, action and semi-consensual sex. Matthew Vaughan’s Kingsman: The Secret Service looks back on the golden ages of James Bond movies with a fierce nostalgia. While still a comedy, it’s more of a homage than a parody. Eggsy (Taron Edgerton) is a lower class young adult, living under the thumb of an abusive stepfather. Calling in a favour from a friend of his deceased father to get out of trouble, Eggsy meets the classy, well-mannered Harry Hart (Colin Firth), who reveals his father was a member of an Arthurian-themed secret service. Taking Eggsy under his wing, Hart selects him as a candidate to replace the deceased Agent Lancelot and Eggsy must take up a series of competitive challenges to survive the brutal training of the Kingsmen. Meanwhile, Hart must confront the scheming Richmond Valentine (Samuel L. Jackson), a lisping Mark Zuckerberg-equese billionaire who plans to unleash an aggression virus via cell phones to solve the problem of an over-populated Earth. Firth is fantastic as Hart — playing a character half James Bond and half an umbrella wielding Mary Poppins. “Manners maketh the man,” Hart proclaims before he lays the smack down on some of Eggsy’s belligerent tormentors.
Hart is a relic of a bygone age of proper behaviour and courtesy, but also a teacher who sees the value in Eggsy despite Eggsy’s downtrodden upbringing. The biggest struggle the film has to deal with is the inevitable transfer from Hart’s action hero and mentor figure protagonist to Eggsy. Given that he is a newcomer, Edgerton does a remarkable job carrying the film through the final act — especially given that he is has to perform opposite Colin Firth. The film isn’t all suave and sophisticated. It’s darkest and single-handedly most controversial moment comes when Valentine unleashes his aggression virus on Hart in a Westboro Baptist style church. Driven to uncontrolled madness, Hart and the racist, homophobic, sexist, fundamentalist congregants brutally massacre each other to the tune of Lynryd Skynyrd’s Free Bird in the textbook definition of a victimless crime. While it is darkly comic to see a bunch of hateful fanatics reduced to exactly what they preach, the scene feels like it belongs in an episode of BBC 4’s prematurely cancelled Utopia rather than in a comedy. Despite being a well-choreographed action sequence, the scene is too muddled to say anything coherent. This isn’t new territory for Vaughan, whose earlier work Kick-Ass also suffered from its flippant comedy tone clashing with brutal ultra-violence. It’d be nice to see him get this contrast right, but as of now, he hasn’t. That being said, the scene is all-but-forgotten within 10 minutes of subsequent wise-cracking spies and an over-the-top third-act action scene that is, quite literally, mind-blowing. That’s what you get with Kingsman. It’s a classy martini with little umbrellas and just for kicks a crazy straw — and of course, it’s shaken, not stirred. Kingsman: The Secret Service plays at Rainbow Cinemas. Show times are available at www.rainbowcinemas.com.
Courtesy of 20th Centruy Fox
•5
thegazette • Wednesday, February 25, 2015
LOVE
WHAT’S HOT
WEALTH
LIFE AND WELLNESS
Calling your parents
Oscar drama
Make rich friends
Take A staycation
Last Sunday, JK Simmons won Best Supporting Actor for his performance as Terence Fletcher, an abusive conductor, in Whiplash. During his acceptance speech, JK Simmons encouraged viewers to call their parents. “Call your mom. Call your dad,” Simmons said. “If you’re lucky enough to have a parent or two alive on this planet, call them. Don’t text. Don’t email. Call them on the phone and tell them you love them and thank them.” While love and expressions of love are generally a waste of time, thanking your progenitors for bringing you into existence is probably a good thing to do. Needless to say, Terence Fletcher probably never called his parents. His existence was ruined by Miles Teller’s drumming.
The 87th Academy Awards this Sunday brought to us two stories: Birdman’s big wins and Giuliana Rancic’s ignorant comment towards Zendaya Coleman. After Monday’s Fashion Police, Rancic commented on Coleman’s appearance saying, “I feel like [Zendaya] smells like patchouli oil … or maybe weed” because she was wearing locks. Coleman took to social media and came back with a paragraph calling out the criticism behind African American hair and her intentions of showcasing locks in a positive light. With over 40,000 retweets, favourites and Instagram likes, Rancic came back with a Twitter apology sounding as insincere as her laugh. Coleman 1: Rancic 0.
It’s easy to spot a rich kid. If the wardrobe and unique aroma of entitlement don’t give them away, you can always ask around. Once the wealthy target is spotted, it’s time to befriend them so that you can absorb some of their riches through osmosis. The rich kid is a peaceful species and insinuating yourself into one of their herds comes down to engaging with rich kid interests. Sailing, rehab, opera, Range Rovers — the list goes on. Don’t worry about actually partaking in these activities. Just read about it on Wikipedia so you know what’s up and stand by and watch the money pile up. It’s tough living a double life but Drake is a pioneer in fitting in with the preppy crowd. For any financial doubts, do as Drake does.
Just because you didn’t get a chance to hit up Cancun on reading week doesn’t mean you don’t deserve a break. With only a month and a half left in the school year, it’s not uncommon to feel exhausted, overworked and in need of some time for yourself. For those who had too much reading to do during reading week, a vacation in May is a great way to celebrate the end of the school year. But if you can’t afford to go somewhere warm and sunny, make sure to treat yourself in another way. Take a night off from working on your final papers and do what you need to do: get together with your friends and go bowling, have a movie night, maybe some wine and cheese. Whatever it is, it’s important to take some time for yourself and relax once in a while.
• Brent Holmes
• Samah Ali
• Conrad Floryan
• Jennafer Freeman
Test Drive Your Career
MEDIA #AskHerMore The hashtag #AskHerMore began circulating last week, just before the Oscars. The movement was intended to encourage reporters to ask more questions to women on the red carpet than simply, “Who are you wearing?” While many actresses are undoubtedly excited to gush over their glamorous dresses at events like the Oscars, #AskHerMore is designed to acknowledge the fact that actresses are interested in answering other questions too. Reese Witherspoon is one actress who participated in spreading the word about the movement this week via Instagram. She explained that she would love to hear some more creative questions coming from reporters, while admitting she was still looking forward to sharing what she was wearing.
Looking for work experience? Consider the DeGroote MBA The DeGroote Co-op program provides students with the opportunity to gain 12 months of valuable paid work experience over the 28 month program. Students in our program earn an average of $45,000 during the three work terms. This program is for you if you are a recent graduate with little or no work experience and you are looking to gain a competitive advantage in the workforce. We are coming to Western University on Thursday, February 26th for an information session on the program. If you cannot make the session we will be back on March 10th for an information table in the UCC Atrium. Please see your Career Centre for more details and to register.
mba.degroote.mcmaster.ca
• Jennafer Freeman
6 •
thegazette • Wednesday, February 25, 2015
opinions
Advertising is the art of convincing people to spend money they don’t have for something they don’t need.
• Will Rogers
HAVE YOUR SAY
Dear Life
The Gazette asked student what they thought of the new campus master plan.
Your anonymous letters to life
Dear Life, I just really want to be featured in Gazette’s Dear Life! [Editor’s note: Here at the Gazette, we’re all about making dreams come true. Congratulations!]
Michael Goldein
Economics II I think that’s good. I think expansion of the school is important — but appropriate expansion. It’s already 36,000 students. I have mixed feelings about it. Courtesy of AMC
Appreciating commercials as art Slick Rick
Steph Lang
English IV It doesn’t really affect me, but I know there’s a huge issue with parking space. Richard Joseph TEMPORARY GAZETTE EDITOR @uwogazette
Ryan Rego
HBA II It’ll be a pain while it’s being built and developed. The buses, I’m sure, will be backed up. But I think it makes sense long-term.
Max Specht
MIT IV I think parking in general is already a struggle. It’s already expensive enough as it is. I don’t know if I necessarily support the collection of more and more infrastructure just to demoralize the masses trying to get to class everyday.
thegazette
Volume 108, Issue 76 www.westerngazette.ca
Iain Boekhoff Editor-In-Chief Brent Holmes Deputy Editor Richard Raycraft Managing Editor
Contact: www.westerngazette.ca University Community Centre Rm. 263 The University of Western Ontario London, ON, CANADA N6A 3K7 Editorial Offices: (519) 661-3580 Advertising Dept.: (519) 661-3579
The Gazette is owned and published by the University Students’ Council.
“Ads don’t work on me,” said everyone ever. And yet, advertising continues to thrive as a multi-billion dollar industry in the developed world. It’s unlikely that $78 billion was spent on US advertising in 2013, according to a report by the Nielson Company, just so you can groan and change the channel during a commercial break. But this won’t stop people complaining. There’s a general sort of cynicism regarding advertisements, as if they’re just a waste of time between extremely important 20-minute segments of men sweating and passing a ball back and forth. Not only do people see them as intrusive, but there’s also the undeniable fact that these companies are trying to sell you something; there’s an agenda behind the art, and this apparently undermines it. But, as history shows us, art doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Behind every Renaissance artist is some ruthless, rich Medici patron, and behind every stunning work of architecture in Rome is the Catholic Church financing the artist. So long as you are aware of these agendas, and aware of these underlying institutions, you can still enjoy the art that comes from it. Advertisements, regardless of their commercial interests, can still be appreciated as an art form. As we move down the timeline to
Editorials are decided by a majority of the editorial board and are written by a member of the editorial board but are not necessarily the expressed opinion of each editorial board member. All other opinions are strictly those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the USC, The Gazette, its editors or staff. To submit a letter, go to westerngazette.ca and click on “Contact.” All articles, letters, photographs, graphics, illustrations and cartoons published in The Gazette, both in the newspaper and online versions, are the property of The Gazette. By submitting any such material to The Gazette for publication, you grant to The Gazette a non-exclusive, world-wide, royalty-free, irrevocable license to publish such material in perpetuity in any media, including but not limited to, The Gazette‘s hard copy and online archives.
the modern day, you can basically divide advertising into two camps. “Deceptive” advertising which tries to trick the consumer in some way, and “genuine” advertisement which relies on audio-visual, sensory or emotional appeal to connect with the consumer. Perhaps the best example of deceptive advertising is something like the “subliminal messages” that raised so much controversy in the 1950s, essentially images that flashed for milliseconds during advertisements to filter into the viewer’s unconscious. Today, this particular practice is banned in the UK, but equally sly methods are being employed. A very modern phenomenon is “astroturfing,” whereby a company simulates grassroots support for their product. For example, a company might pay someone to go out and have a “natural conversation” in a public place praising their product, or post an interesting picture on Reddit featuring that company’s product. This sort of advertising disparages the consumer, treating them essentially as easily-fooled idiots. On the other hand, you have genuinely interesting commercials during the Superbowl—in fact, about 50 per cent of people who watch the Superbowl are just there for the ads. The ones I particularly liked this year were Budweiser’s “Lost Dog” for its “aww” factor and Nationwide Insurance’s “Invisible Mindy Kaling” for lighthearted humour. I’ll always remain aware of corporate interests, whether I’m watching TV or browsing the web. But as long as commercials treat the consumer as intelligent, thinking agents capable of objective evaluation, I see no reason why they should not be appreciated — at least, before you return to the next episode of Game of Thrones.
Gazette Composing & Gazette Advertising Ian Greaves, Manager Маја Анјоли-Билић
Robert Armstrong Diana Watson
Gazette Staff 2014-2015 Mohammad Abrar Abdul Hanan, Suhaib Al-Azem, Eric Bajzert, Sarah Botelho, Damon Burtt, Tabitha Chan, Jonathan Dunn, Spencer Fairweather, Sam Frankel, Devin Golets, Kevin Heslop, Richard Joseph, Drishti Kataria, Sara Mai Chitty, Soheil Milani, Mackenzie Morrison, Amy O’Shea, Vidhant Pal, Kyle Porter, Lily Robinson, Alex Seger, Tiffany Shepherd, Tristan Wu
News Amy O’Kruk Hamza Tariq Katie Lear Olivia Zollino News-at-large Kevin Hurren Opinions Nusaiba Al-Azem Arts & Life Conrad Floryan Jennafer Freeman Jenny Jay Sports Bradley Metlin Nathan Kanter Robert Nanni Jr.
Dear Life, The Spoke has put on Kelly and Michael. Sorry I wasn’t aware they were catering to middle aged women #putonsportscenter Dear Life, Can someone please please PLEASE inform the Western community that leggings are not, and will never be pants? Dear Life, Curious about BDSM? Put down Fifty Shades and educate yourself about consent and safety. Suggested start: Google “Risk-aware consensual kink.” If you can’t play nice, play carefully. Dear Life, Why? Dear Life, Wow, a plus-sized model, an article on visiting a bathhouse and a couple weak depictions of homosexuals. Golly, the Sex Issue was so cutting edge. Pfft. Dear Life, Today I walked in on my roommate masturbating to the naked pictures in The Gazette. wgaz.ca/dear-life
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thegazette • Wednesday, February 25, 2015
Mustangs capture bronze with weekend win Bradley Metlin SPORTS EDITOR @BradAtGazette
The women’s volleyball team faced off against the top-ranked University of Toronto Varsity Blues in the Ontario University Athletics season semi-finals Friday. The Mustangs ended up playing hard in one of their most excited games of the season — unfortunately, the effort wasn’t enough as they lost three sets to two. They were sent to play against the Guelph Gryphons for the bronze. Riding momentum, they defeated Guelph three sets to one on Saturday to take the OUA bronze medal. Capping off an exciting season, head coach Melissa Bartlett was incredibly happy with the result. “I can speak for everyone in our program when I say that we are so proud of being OUA medalists this season — we have taken a huge step forward after not making the playoffs last season,” Bartlett said. Throughout the season, the Mustangs had mixed results — finishing in the middle of the OUA west division. Looking at performances in individual games suggested that Western was a stronger team than the standings showed. Bartlett said this led to the Mustangs being described as a “dark horse” in the playoffs. “As a ‘dark horse,’ we actually joked around as a team about our ‘surprise’ appearance in the final four,” Bartlett described. “We knew all along that our season record was not entirely indicative of how talented we were as a group and we enjoyed rising to the challenge of playing higher seeds throughout the playoff run this season.” The beginning of the match against the Varsity Blues offered no hint of success for Western as Toronto closed off the first set 25–7. Fighting back, the Mustangs rallied in the second set, winning 25–15. By the fourth set, the match was tied and the OUA finals were definitely in Western’s view. “I think collectively we realized ‘wow!’ We have such a great opportunity here,” Bartlett reflected on the feeling before the final set. “That match was a true testament to how much we have improved in the last month of the season — we lost a 3–0 match to Toronto back on January 16. We were a totally different team playing them in the semi-finals a month later.” The fifth set began with a series of strong attacks from Toronto and Western never recovered, losing the final set 15–7. After playing competitively against the eventual OUA champions, Western took the court Saturday against Guelph. The first set began similarly to their first match of the weekend, with the Gryphons quickly establishing a lead early in the first set. Exploiting the Mustangs weak spots, Guelph ended the set ahead 25–15. Falling behind in the second set, the Mustangs returned to the
Damon Burtt • GAZETTE
court after a technical timeout with renewed energy. They rallied to bring the score to 19–19, where they began trading points. An attack error from Guelph allowed Western to end the set 31–29. The Mustangs continued to hustle in the third and fourth sets, finishing ahead and clinching the match — and the OUA bronze medal. Ending off the weekend, Bartlett believed the Mustangs had a lot to be proud of. “We finished the season as the best team in the west division, and gained some extremely valuable playoff experience against one of the best teams the OUA has had in the past years.” Rookie Kelsey Veltman was a vital part of the team and had an outstanding season. Opponents had a hard time defending against her as she maintained a key presence in virtually every match. “What Kelsey accomplished as a rookie this year is unmatched by any rookie player in our league — possibly in the history of OUA volleyball,” Bartlett stated. Bartlett also highlighted Aja Gyimah as the most improved player for the entire season. “It is incredible how much she has matured as an athlete — her performance in the second half of our season was so consistent and she was a leading scorer for us in many big matches.” With such a young team, the future of Western’s womens’ volleyball program seems bright. “This final four was a real eye opener for our team — in particular being so close to upsetting a topthree team in the country — I could tell by the way our team responded to the loss that they were actually even more motivated because they want to be that kind of team in the future,” Bartlett said.
Hailey Sugar • GAZETTE
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PUT YOUR SUDOKU SAVVY TO THE TEST! To solve a sudoku, the numbers 1 through 9 must fill each row, column and box. Each number can appear only once in each row, column and box. You can figure out the order in which the numbers will appear by using the numeric clues already provided in the boxes.
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thegazette • Wednesday, February 25, 2015
sports
saywhat? “We don’t have enough time for that ... there were plenty of mistakes. I cringe sometimes. I’ve paid a price personally and professionally ... I’m moving on and focused for 2015.”
• Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez on returning from his year-long suspension.
Rundown >> The Western Mustangs mourn Monday’s passing of Nathan Holder, a 2008 Western graduate and Mustang track and field member > Nicknamed NateBlack, he was co-founder of the Lion’s Den University website > Holder competed as a high jumper from 2004 to 2007.
Mustangs keep their heads above water Robert Nanni SPORTS EDITOR @robertnanni
Courtesy of AP Shutterstock
The Western men’s and women’s swimming teams headed to Victoria, British Columbia this past weekend to face off in the 2015 Speedo Canadian Interuniversity Sport Swimming Championships. After a threeday tmeet from February 19–21, the men walked away with a fifth place finish as the women finished seventh. Competing against nearly twodozen teams from across Canada, the men’s finished with 216 points and the women with 208 points. In the end, the University of British Columbia won their national title for the second year in a row, securing first place in both the men’s and women’s divisions. The Western men were also competing for the Nelson C. Hart trophy along with the CIS championship title, but their fifth place position, which they held throughout the entire meet, wasn’t enough. The women were in sixth place after days one and two, but fell short on day three and
dropped to seventh. The top individual performer for Western was Gamal Assaad, completing the 100-metre fly in 54.61 seconds, good enough for second place in the race. He was outpaced only by Coleman Allen of the University of British Columbia who finished with 53.21s. Allen also set a CIS championship record of 51.19s in the preliminaries, making him the one to beat. The Mustangs’ best team performance came in the women’s 4 x 100m relay race. Emma Sproule, Sophie Cieplucha, Jennifer McNaughton and Paulina Bond surpassed many teams in a fourth place finish for the race, trailing behind Montreal, UBC and Toronto, who took the win. The men did not place as well in this race, grabbing seventh place. Their finish in the relay is attributed to the efforts of Assaad, along with teammates Gordon Barkwell, Jake Silverthorn and Robert Wise. This meet marks the end of the Mustang swimming season. They will swim once again in the 2015–16 season which kicks off in September.
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